3C 334
Quasar in the constellation Hercules
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
3C 334 is a powerful radio-loud quasar located in the constellation of Hercules, about 5.2 billion light years away from Earth.[1] It has a redshift of (z) 0.555.[2][3] First discovered as an astronomical radio source in 1965,[4] the object is classified as a lobe-dominated quasar showing signs of superluminal motion.[5]
| 3C 334 | |
|---|---|
The quasar 3C 334. | |
| Observation data (J2000.0 epoch) | |
| Constellation | Hercules |
| Right ascension | +16h 20m 21.819s[1] |
| Declination | +17° 36′ 23.951″[1] |
| Redshift | 0.555167[1] |
| Heliocentric radial velocity | 166,435 km/s[1] |
| Distance | 5.255 Gly |
| Apparent magnitude (V) | 16.41 |
| Apparent magnitude (B) | 16.53 |
| Characteristics | |
| Type | QSO[1] |
| Other designations | |
| NRAO 500, QSO B1618+1743, LEDA 2817681, 4C 17.68, OHIO S 131, PKS 1618+177, 2E 3648 | |
Description
3C 334 is found to be located inside a dense cluster environment.[6] It has a sharp bounded northern radio lobe with a plume extension in the south while the southern radio lobe on the other hand, is weakly brightened with a much faint lobe emission.[7] There is also a trail of radio emission found leading towards a diffused hotspot, possibly interpreted as a counter-jet. A southern jet can be seen going straight before curving eastwards to a hotspot region, based on Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network and Very Large Array observation imaging.[8] Low brightness emission is also present between the object's lobes and the radio core.[9] There is a knot described as elongated, connecting to the hotspot via a weak emission bridge.[7]
The host galaxy of the object has an elongated appearance. Based on observations, the host has twisted isotopes with an arc-like structure to the south direction evidently detected by its oxygen atom (O II) emission.[10]
The object shows a variation period of 15 years indicating blazar behavior.[11] In February 1997, it was found to be in a stable state but however its brightness faded by 0.05 magnitude after 2.5 hours.[12] According to high resolution centimeter-millimeter observations, its core is found to have substantial variability, exhibiting core flux density values of 5 GHz which was measured during the past 20 years.[13] Extended X-ray emission was also found emitting from the object with its 60ɥm luminosity measured as 1046 erg s−1.[14] The pressure of the emission from within its emission-line region has a value exceeding 6 × 105 cm−3 Kelvin.[15] Emission line imaging also showed the object having a bar-shaped nebula that is located at position angle of 150°.[16]